Two Hearts and a Soul
by kindellfire
Summary: Maka was only trying to start a life for herself, she never realized she would stumble upon a world apart from her own. Semi-AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or any of the characters.**

Maka Albarn was a practical person, one who did not indulge in wild imagination, preferring to approach life with a logical reasoning. That is, up until the day she turned 21, when she uprooted her life to get away from her father and his philandering ways. Really, she though, it was about damn time the man grow up. She decided that moving away from the overprotective sniveling Spirit was a long time coming and she grew increasingly excited as she finally turned off the winding country road and on to a gravel driveway. She almost couldn't believe her luck as she gazed upon the cozy one-story home that was nestled right next to an expanse of forest. The house had been put up for rent by owner and had been a steal considering it was fully furnished. She thought it was funny that she had never actually met the previous owner though, they had only corresponded through a few short emails. In any case, she was grateful for this escape that, for a time anyway, would free her from her disgusting father.

Upon inspection, the inside of the house turned out to be great…maybe a little bit boyish looking at some of the mismatching furniture, paint color schemes, and music posters taped to the walls of one of the bed rooms, but Maka was not one of distinguished taste anyways. When she was exploring the back of the house she even found that one of the rooms had a magnificent grand piano sitting in the middle of it as if waiting for someone to come in and play it. Despite the fact that she knew nothing of music and even less of how to play anything more complicated than a slide whistle she still couldn't find it in herself to not to admire its beauty. She noticed that pages of sheet music were scattered about, some having their staffs filled with hand drawn notes and others empty. She straightened some of the sheets, not understanding any of them, in an attempt to tidy the room a bit. She gave the room one last look before moving on.

She moved all of her things into the bedroom that did not have the posters on the walls. The room she was in seemed to have served the last owner as a guest bed room. Even though this room was smaller, she felt somewhat uneasy taking the room that still had relics of its last occupant. Sheets had still remained on the bed, books and trinkets still sat on shelves, and there were even some clothes in the closet. She had to admit that someone picking up and leaving all their stuff did seem rather odd, but it wasn't her business and she was sure whomever lived there before had their reasons.

It wasn't until about noon when Maka, taking a break from unpacking, had sat down for some lunch that she looked out the kitchen window and noticed a small building, it looked to be a barn, outside behind her house. The structure just meeting the edge of the forest that bordered her property. Finishing off the last of her sandwich she set out the back door of her house to get a better look at the barn. As she stood in front of the structure about to place a hand on the door she felt a prickle of anticipation causing her to shiver despite the summer heat. She thought perhaps that she should leave the barn alone and walk back into the house, that something was not right here, something unnatural. But Maka Albarn was logical, not to mention stubborn to boot. The hinges of the barn doors protested loudly as Maka swung them open, light pouring into the barn where it had previously been dark. Her eyes widened as they landed on the most obvious object in sight. That object being obnoxiously orange colored and parked directly in the middle of the open doors. It was a freaking motorcycle! Despite its awful color and donning the name Road King scripted on the side, it was pretty sweet in Makas opinion. She walked in to further inspect the bike as she wondered who in their right mind would possibly leave such an expensive item in an old barn on a piece of property that was being sold. As she ran a hand over one of the handlebars something else caught her gaze. It was the gleam of metal under the rays of the afternoon sun. Transfixed, she walked toward the back of the barn until she stood center in front of the largest, most impressive, and possibly most frightening scythe she had ever seen. It had an intricate adornment at the end of the shaft that eerily resembled an eye. The blade itself had a jagged black and red colored pattern running down it and it looked almost too sharp and deadly to be real. "What in the hell…?" Maka trailed as she gaped at this massive tool that appeared to have no other purpose than to take someone, or something, down. She wanted to back away, the air suddenly feeling heavier and she felt like she was being watched. But despite herself, she couldn't help but to reach forward. Her fingers barely grazed the cold metal of the scythes shaft but in that instant it sent a shock that struck Maka to the core. All of the sudden in her mind she could see flashes of an image. She saw white….hair? And then deep red eyes that matched the color of blood. The shock, and images, left as fast as they came and Maka found herself staggering backwards as she regained her senses. A string of profanities raced through her head but none found themselves voiced as Maka swallowed hard before slowly backing away to the wide barn doors and then bolting for the house, the feeling of being watched never dissipating until she was back in the house with the doors locked and curtains now closed. Only then do the profanities start spewing while Maka completely bypasses a glass of wine that too closely resembles the color of blood red eyes and goes straight for a shot of something stronger.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

After a few days Maka was mostly settled into her new home. She had not ventured back to the barn since the incident with the scythe. Occasionally she would peek out her kitchen window to look at the barn as if expecting the damn thing to get up and walk away into the woods (sometimes she wished it would). Whenever she would look at it she got the unsettling feeling that she was being watched and would retreat further into her kitchen. This particular morning though as she held her staring contest with the barn, she noticed something different. It came in the form of a short male with… _blue_ _hair_?-what was this world coming too- and a tall slender woman. She watched as they walked straight into the barn without hesitation. Even though she never wanted to enter that barn again she marched straight toward it ready to give the trespassers a piece of her mind. As she reached the slightly ajar barn door, quite ready to bust in and make a scene, she heard a noise, whispering to be exact.

"Soul, it's great to see you again! Have you recovered?" said a voice that seemed to belong to the woman that had walked into the barn.

"OF COURSE HE'S RECOVERED! MY GODLY PRESENCE HAS HEALED HIM" yelled another voice, an annoying voice, Maka already wanted to stab its owner. She could only assume it belonged to the boy with the annoying blue hair.

"You idiot, shut up! We can't have that girl hearing your screaming," said another voice. A voice that had not arrived with the other trespassers. The rumbling baritone struck a chord with Maka, it seemed almost familiar though she was sure she'd never heard it or met the person it belonged to.

"Anyway," the voice continued, "I wouldn't say I'm recovered. I'm not really sure what I am right now, but there has obviously been a change. I know it has something to do with the girl that moved into the house," the speaker paused and then sarcastically added "Oh, and thank you so much for RENTING OUT MY HOUSE!"

Maka raised a brow, so this house belonged to the mystery voice.

Boisterous laughing erupted from the barn, followed by a hushing from the female.

"Soul, Black*Star didn't rent your house as a joke, you know it was the only way to find someone," the female rationalized sweetly.

"I know, and it's really lucky we got someone the first time, but did you really have to rent it to this chick, I mean, did you just give it to the first bid?"

"Ahh, well…" the woman began guiltily before she was cut off.

"AW MAN, IS SHE HOT?!" the obnoxious boy yelled.

"Dude, shut up!"

"Sorry," said a somewhat sheepish reply, "but is she?"

"Eh, she's not ugly, she's a flatty though, if you know what I mean."

There came a few snickers between the two male voices and a small scold from the female voice.

 _Okay, that's it_! Maka though, enraged by the comments on her body from people she didn't even know.

She suddenly threw open the doors intent on demanding to know what was going on and maybe hand out a few Maka-chops while she was at it. When her eyes adjusted to the light of the barn she trained her glare on the intruders. She quickly realized, though, that there were only two occupants in the barn. Only the girl and blue haired boy stood in front of her looking surprised at her impromptu entrance.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?!" a very angry and confused Maka demanded. She stared down the two intruders who seemed to have recovered from the surprise. The taller one, the female, spoke up.

"Uhm, hello, we are…umm…your neighbors!" she exclaimed. "Yes, yes, we live a bit down the road!"

Maka eyed her suspiciously, the girl seemed pleasant and sweet, but something was going on here.

" _Okay_ ," Maka said "could you explain what exactly you were doing sneaking around into my barn?"

The annoying blue haired boy cut in "Hey, this isn't your barn it's S-". A hand being slapped over his loud mouth cut his sentence off, though Maka could still hear his muffled complaint. The girl kept her hand over the boy's mouth and looked sheepishly at Maka.

"Well, we really must be going." She rushed, "I'm Tsubaki and this is Black*Star. Uh, if you need anything, this is our number!" She magically procured a piece of paper with a number on it from her pocket. "Nice to meet you, we will be off now!" The girl, Tsubaki, quickly dragged the boy straight past a dumbfound Maka. She turned to call out, however there was no sign that anyone was around. She stood with her mouth agape for a moment, standing all alone in the entrance of the barn. She finally found her senses when the overwhelming feeling of being watched returned. She slowly turned her head, gazing resting upon the scythe. The blade almost seemed to flash and Maka could have sworn she saw a face reflected in the blade. And not just a face, one with white hair and red eyes, like the ones burnt into her brain from her initial contact. The feeling of eyes on her remained as she backed out of the barn closing the doors and backing into the house. Something was not right with that barn, she though as she found refuge behind the closed door of her house. The air seemed to lighten as she went to her room. She dropped onto her bed, she almost reached for a book but decided her brain was too far into overdrive to focus on a story. Sighing, she stared up at her ceiling trying to logically work out her situation. She fell asleep in the same position not too long after.

It was dark when Maka awoke. She sat up groggily, and swiped clumsily at her eyes. She sat up straighter as she realized that something had woken her up. A banging noise echoed in her sleepy consciousness. She focused hard on listening but the house was quiet, she could only hear the cicadas chirping outside in the summer night. Despite the silence Maka was unconvinced, the house felt off, as if she was in the barn again. Maka slowly stood grabbing the heaviest book from her shelf. It occurred to her, for the first time, that living in the middle of nowhere by herself with only a book to protect her might not have been the smartest decision on her part…. _still_ , a Maka chop could easily take a person down and she was decently skilled in more than a few forms of martial arts. She opened the door slowly and peered around the door frame. Light seeped out from under the piano room's door, and Maka was positive that the light had been off and the door open earlier. Readying the book into an attack position she inched forward through the hall. She paused along the wall to take a deep breath before putting her hand on the knob. With one more breath she threw the door open with her book raised high. What was beyond the door made her freeze, her book still held aloft. Everything in her vision seemed to slow down. Her eyes traveled from boot clad feet to the back of a body wearing dark jeans and a T-shirt and then up to a mess of spiked white hair. She watched as the intruders head turned in slow motion toward her, revealing a tan face and crimson eyes that seemed to pierce straight through her. She was so intent on watching this agonizingly slow play through of her intruder that she failed to notice the door that she had thrown open had rebounded off the wall and it only caught her attention as it slammed back into her head. The shock from the blow only distracted her for a second but by the time she looked back, her white haired intruder was gone…though she could have sworn she heard a small chuckle in the now empty space where he had stood. She sunk to the floor in the door frame, dropping her book as she tried to calm her racing heart. 'In the love of all that is holy, what is going on here' she thought as she rubbed her sore head. After a while she got up, leaving the piano room light on. In fact, leaving all the lights on in the house, as if that would magically keep mysterious vanishing persons from entering her home. Finally she climbed back into her bed, but she didn't sleep the rest of the night.


	3. Chapter 3

A month and a half had passed since Maka moved into the house, and to be honest she was getting quite pissed off at the whole ordeal. Maka was used to being able to solve things, to use logic and reasoning to sort out any problem, and if all else failed she could resort to violence. She was not only the valedictorian at her high school, she was also nicknamed Angel of Death due to the amount of Maka chops she handed out. So Maka was really quite annoyed that after a month she still couldn't find any answers to the mysteries of this property. Her annoyance was not helped by the fact that several more intrusions had occurred over the month. These times though, she just stayed put in her room with a book tight in her grip, listening to the occasional shuffling that came from the piano room. It really rubbed her the wrong way that both the barn and the piano room seemed to be a hangout for…..for something! She added 'not knowing who are what the stranger was' to the list of reasons to be pissed off.

Maka fumed about the situation as she drove her car back from the distant grocery store. She glared at the barn as she pulled her car to the end of her long driveway, it almost felt like the barn glared back at her. Getting out of the car, she decided she'd had enough. She slammed the car door, arms full of groceries she marched into the house and dropped them unceremoniously onto the counter while also continuing to glare at the barn from the window. Grabbing a thick book from her room she stormed back outside to the doors of the barn. For a moment she paused, wondering if this would be the time she got in too far over her head. But the barn seemed to give off a taunting feeling and her anger returned full force. She pushed through the doors and stalked in and quickly bypassed the showy motorcycle, headed toward the back where the huge scythe still hung on the wall.

"All right Scythe-thing! I don't know what the hell is going on here but I know that it's got something to do with you, so you had better cut the crap and leave me the hell alone, you got that?!" She yelled. She waited, no reply from the scythe. Still angry she threatened "I swear to God I will throw this book at you!" She huffed as she still received no answer from the metal tool. She dropped her book back to her side, sighing. Who was she kidding, she was yelling at an inanimate object, was she going insane?

"A book, really?" The voice came from behind her.

Maka whirled and found a tall lean male slouching against one of the support beams on the other side of the barn. The same hair and eye color that had haunted her for the past month now physically present in front of her. He was dressed the same as he'd been when she'd caught him in the house, only he seemed to have added a leather jacket, which his hands where shoved deep into the pockets of.

"You should really think about a different selection of weapons, I'm pretty sure that scythe could slice your book in half," he paused, "In fact, I'm sure it could cut you in half too," he finished, tacking on a smirk. She noted that his teeth looked pointed and sharp as razors.

Maka gaped at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. He raised a pale eyebrow at her, "Oi, you okay Tiny-tits?" The man didn't even see the book that smacked him square in the face. "What the hell, woman?!" A recovered Maka marched over and quickly retrieved the book she had thrown, raising it in threat. The white haired boy shied away, hands up in surrender, "Okay, okay, jeez, put that book down."

She stared at him skeptically, lowering her book but keeping a tight told on it.

"You wanna tell me exactly what is going on here?" she bit out, her voice steely paired with what she hoped was a fierce glare.

"Pleased to meet you too," he grumbled sarcastically. His eyes widened as he saw the spine of her book raise. "Aw! Come o-!" _Damn, she's strong_ , he though as the book collided with his head and then his head collided into the ground.

Maka stood above him, deadly glint in her eyes. "I'll ask one more time. What. Is. Going. On."

"Well if you'd stop hitting me with freaking books for a minute maybe I could tell you!" he accused as he stood up, dusting off his clothes.

"Jeez, you sure as shit don't hit like a girl" he said, slouching back against the beam.

"Thank you," Maka said, nose in the air. "Now, who are you?"

"Name's Soul Eater," he grinned, sharp pointed teeth gleaming in the light.

Maka rolled her eyes at the name but replied "Maka Albarn". She extended her hand towards Soul, a habit of politeness that her mother had left her (sketchy character be damned). Soul stared, unmoving, down at her hand.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he stated.

"And why not?!" Maka questioned, patience wearing thin with this guy.

Soul sighed, "Okay, but I warned you," he said as he pulled a hand from his pocket and held it out.

Maka hesitated for a split second, but backing down did not come easy to the strong willed Angel of Death, so she quickly closed the distance between their hands. At first nothing happened, a smirk started to grow on Maka's face….then the shock happened. It was the same feeling she had received from touching the scythe all those weeks ago. Maka retracted her hand and took a shaky step back, casting narrowed eyes at the man opposite of her. He gave her a look equal parts amused and smug as he shook out his hand. He had clearly felt the jolt too but didn't look phased, while Maka was just trying to get the hair on the back of her neck to go down.

"Told you, Tiny Tits," Soul said, flinching after he realized his remark could earn him a fatal blow to the skull. However, Maka didn't seem to notice as she just gave him an accusatory look, mouth opening and closing like a gaping fish while cradling her hand.

"Well, you look like you are either going to run away or hit me again. On the likely chance it's the second, I'm going to go now," Soul finished, he flashed her one more smirk.

"Later," he said as he suddenly disappeared, his departing words still echoing in the still air.

Even disoriented, and now extremely pissed off, Maka knew that this pain-in-the-ass mystery man was still around, she could feel someone's gaze on her despite his vanishing act; though she also knew sticking around would be pointless, that jerk wasn't going to reveal himself.

"This isn't over, I still want answers!" she yelled into the empty space before promptly storming out of the barn and back into her house.

What she didn't realize was that, while Soul's gaze was still trained on her, someone else was also watching her.


	4. Chapter 4

That night Maka went to bed trying to sort out in her head what was going on. She hadn't learned anything…well, except for that cocky bastard's name. None of it made any sense; a creepy ass scythe, an abandoned house, and its supposed owner was a disappearing man who lived in the barn. Maka flopped back onto her bed with a groan and wondering if she was going mental, maybe living secluded in the woods was giving her a case of the crazies. Suddenly she sat back up overcome with a tingling sensation that gave her goose bumps and made her heart race. For a moment she thought that Soul might be back in the house, but she quickly dismissed it because this was a different vibe she was getting. The feeling from Soul was uncomfortable, even creepy, but she never felt like her life was in imminent danger. This feeling was sinister, it elicited a fight or flight response in Maka, and her gut was definitely telling her to get the hell out of there. At that same moment, Maka was sure she heard footsteps lightly echoing from somewhere in her house. _Yup, time to go_ , she thought. She may be brave but she wasn't stupid, so she tiptoed over to her window and prayed it would open without making a noise. Thankfully, it lifted silently and the summer air enveloped her as she slipped out and landed soundlessly. Thank you eighteen years of gymnastics and tai kwon do. Maka began to edge her way around the house weighing her options of escape. She stopped and pressed herself to the house when she came to the kitchen window. Her curiosity got the best of her and she dared to get a quick glance at who was intruding today. The kitchen appeared empty but she could see into the living room as well and that is where she found her intruders. One was a skinny woman with a polka dot dress and a large orange hat that appeared to have a mouth. Beside her was a huge man wearing striped prison garb with a ball and chain attached to his ankle. And the thing next to both of them was…a giant tadpole?

"Holy crap, she has a fucking giant floating tadpole, what is going on?!" Maka whispered furiously to herself, feeling that she was going to lose her mind any second now. She ducked back under the window looking from her car to the barn. Even if she could reach her car she didn't have her keys. That left the barn as her only option, and even though it wasn't her first choice, snarky people who could disappeared like Houdini seemed like a safer bet than facing whatever was in her house. She quickly moved away from her house, trying to stay in the shadows. Upon reaching the barn she pulled the door out minimally and slipped inside. The half-moon offered just enough light for Maka to find her way into the middle of the barn.

"Soul?" she hissed out. She walked a little further, continuing to call for him as loud as she dared. Finally, she reached the back of the barn with no sign of him. Maybe he wasn't here?

"Oi, what the hell are you doing?" the voice came from behind her.

Maka whipped around so fast that she nearly fell over, relieved when she saw a bleary eyed Soul and not the people with the mutant tadpole.

Looking down at his wrist, though he clearly didn't have a watch on he continued, "Do you not realize that it's, like, 2am?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your beauty sleep," Maka retorted starkly.

Soul huffed and snapped, "Whatever, what do you want?"

Maka met his glare.

"Look, I didn't have a choice, there are two people that broke into the house. I climbed out my window but I don't have my car keys or a phone so this was the only option," she explained, choosing to omit the tadpole on the good chance it would make her sound crazy.

Souls eyebrows shot up, his body tensing, and his demeanor quickly shifting to seriousness. "Tiny ti- er, Maka, what did the people look like? Did they by chance have a huge tadpole with them?"

Maka let her mouth gape, "So it wasn't just my imagination…" she trailed.

Soul began to pace, "Okay, okay, okay, this is bad. Alright, I need you to go grab the scythe there and climb into the loft of the barn and keep yourself and the scythe hidden. Got that?"

Maka leveled her gaze on him, eyes narrowing before she spoke, "You owe me the biggest explanation if we don't get eaten by a tadpole tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, just do what I asked already," he muttered as he peered out the barn window toward the house, "and just a heads up, touching the scythe might send a jolt of wavelength into you, but you need to get it hidden no matter what."

Confusion crossed Maka's face, "Jolt of wave-what-now?"

"No time, get up now, they're headed towards us!" Soul hissed at her from his position at the window. Hurrying toward the back of the barn, Maka gave a dubious look toward the large metal instrument before carefully removing it from the wall. Immediately she felt the familiar jolt run through her, images flooded her mind and the longer she held on, the more it felt like her body was being consumed by something foreign. She needed to move, however her senses were overwhelmed, her eyes not even registering anything that was physically in front of her. Suddenly, firm hands grasped her shoulders, half pushing and half guiding her to what she assumed was the ladder up to the loft. After a few steps, the intensity of the sensation dulled, leaving her fingertips tingling but bringing her back to reality. She somehow managed the ladder even with the monstrous scythe (to be honest, she thought it was a lot lighter than it looked) and she fell to the furthest corner she could. She placed the scythe down and covered it with dried straw at Souls quiet instruction, she then lay down and covered herself as best as possible. She could barely see out of the hay, but she watched as Soul vanished from sight. She burrowed down further, hoping she'd still be able to breathe from her hiding place, when the doors to the barn squealed open on their hinges like a warning call. Maka tensed and closed her eyes shut tight. All she could hear was indistinct whispering, though she thought she heard 'gotta be around here somewhere' and an obviously deep male voice saying 'Medusa is going to be pissed'. Their quiet search seemed to last an eternity, however it eventually ended, leaving a paranoid Maka to keep her hiding place in the straw. She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep until she heard her name being called softly and a gentle shaking of her shoulder. Suddenly, she sat straight up and blindly threw out a fist and made contact quickly. "OW! What the hell?!" Maka turned and prepared for another defensive move when Soul grabbed her arm with the hand that was not cradling his jaw. She froze, her scared features shifting into a bank expression, and then realization as it dawned on her that she was not in any danger. "Crap, I'm so sorry, that one was my bad," Maka said sheepishly. Sighing, Soul stood up from his crouched position "Look, those guys are long gone now. I know I owe you an explanation, but I say we catch a few more hours of sleep first, it's barely dawn".

She noticed the dark circles under his eyes and felt her own weariness. "Yeah, okay, but we will finish this tomorrow. I mean today," she paused. "I think I'll just stay in here the rest of the night if that's okay with you?" she finished, blushing as she looked down. Embarrassed as she was, she wasn't quite ready to sleep in her recently invaded home.

"Fine, suit yourself," and with that Soul was gone again.

Maka rolled over, ignoring the itchy straw and drifted back off again.


	5. Chapter 5

Deep in Death Forest three figures emerged from the thick early morning fog. "Hey, Eurka?" the tall man questioned, throwing a glance at his companion. The girl in question stopped nervously twirling her hair long enough to shoot him a glare back. "What do you want, Free?" her voice was edgy and ground out by clenched teeth.

"Calm down, I'm sure Medusa can't be _that_ mad at us for not finding the brat." Eruka's huff of breath made him pause before he pushed on, "I mean, what's her beef with him anyway?"

"Look, I know you're new here, but try to keep up," she replied, glancing over and petting her giant beast, Tadpole Jackson. "Medusa is one to be feared, considering she is one of the stronger witches known to this world, and being feared makes enemies. You know of the DWMA, the organization that maintains balance by hunting and killing kishin and witches like Medusa and I? It was only a matter of time before they sent someone out to eliminate her," Eruka stopped to shake her head slowly, "Never imagined it would have been two kids".

Frees eyes widened marginally, "Death sent children after a witch?"

"I suppose the word children wouldn't quite fit. Yes, they were relatively young, twenty or so years at most, but they were quite skilled. A pair of brothers who rivaled most other one star duos from the DWMA. The eldest, a meister, was considered a prodigy; his junior wasn't half bad either. But she took out the oldest with almost no hassle at all. Medusa only managed to curse the younger one before backup recruits got to him. Shinigami-sama probably didn't know the caliber of the witch he was sending them after." Eruka's eyes steeled and her voice dropped an octave, "If they really wanted to kill her, they should have sent elite meisters, or even Death himself".

Free laughed loudly and smirked, "Come on, don't talk like that, we _are_ already in trouble let's not add treason to the list."

Eruka seethed. "You're here of your own accord, you aren't the one being held against your will with the ultimatum being death!" her hands pulled on the edge of her hat.

Free gave her a measured look, well aware of her unpleasant situation into forced servitude by Medusa. His instincts told him to run far and fast from that snake woman, but a more loyal part of him made him remain. He was in debt to both Medusa and Eruka for breaking him out of magic prison. His hand reached out for Eruka's shoulder only to halt midway. He sniffed the air tentatively, a low snarl ripping from this throat. The witch beside him stepped closer, demeanor already changed and ready for attack.

"What do you sense?" she asked quietly.

Free grinned near manically, "Speak of the devil. We got a DWMA pair, it's only the two of them…but their soul energy is fairly immense. They are close and getting closer. Whadya say, wanna fight?"

"No, our mission was to scout for the weapon boy, not to fight. If we move fast there is a chance we might not be sensed by them. We can't risk them finding us near Medusa's hideout. Let's move," she whispered.

Free looked a little disappointed but did not argue as Eureka jumped on her tadpole and took off. After a sigh he followed, sprinting a few paces behind.

Looking in the mirror, Maka plucked the last of the straw from her hair. After waking up stiff and itchy in the barn loft, she had decided that explanations could wait in favor of a hot shower. After washing away the dirt and some of the stress of last night, Maka stepped out from her warm shower with a sigh. She emerged from the bathroom in a fluffy towel only to smack straight into a broad chest. She stumbled back as her road block exclaimed loudly. Maka righted herself only to look up at Soul who was both openly gaping and spewing out a mix of profanities and apologies all at once.

"What the hell you idiot?!" she yelled letting one hand punch him in the shoulder as the other kept her towel wrapped protectively around her. Soul backed away with both hands held in surrender, still sputtering. It could have been a trick of the light, but she could swear his cheeks were dusted pink (not that they could ever compare to the beet red of her own face).

"S-sorry, not cool! Sorry! I'll-I'll just wait in my room. Sorry," he stuttered, all the while retreating away from her, not turning his back as if she was a wild animal that would pounce.

She stilled suddenly.

"Your room?" she questioned before it crossed her that the room across from hers probably belonged to him. "Never mind, go wait there while I change, I'll be out in a minute". She swept past him quickly before closing the room to what use to Wes' room. He sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over his face while he stared at her door a little longer than he cared to admit before walking into his own room. A few bitter memories wormed their way into his thoughts before he quickly shut them down. He was thankful that Maka had chosen that room as her own so he wouldn't be forced to wait in there. He didn't think he would handle that very well, and now was not the time to get overemotional about his brother's death, it had already been over a year. Besides, this girl wanted answers and she seemed damn committed to getting them. His mouth quirked into a small smile, she was interesting. He liked the way her eyes sparked with emotions. How her passion danced in those impossibly green eyes. Suddenly, he shook his head roughly, that train of thought needed to be derailed. Unfortunately, at that moment the girl with said eyes appeared in his doorway, now fully dressed, but still blushing furiously. Her embarrassment almost made him laugh but he noticed a few books within her reach and decided restraint would need to be enforced.

"Okay, you pervert," she started, ignoring his indignant squawk. "You promised me answers, so let's hear it."

He opened his mouth with a snarky retort but was interrupted by a sound eerily similar to a door being kicked in and almost ripped off its hinges. He made a face, only one person could make that sound. He groaned and spared a glance to Maka but she was no longer standing next to him. He found her already halfway out his window.

"Uh, Maka? Whatchya doin' there?" he asked with a raised brow.

"Are you deaf? Did _you_ not just hear someone beak in?" she bit out as she swung her other leg to the outside of the window.

A hand clapped her on the shoulder, preventing her from dropping out of the house and making another run for it. Her head turned to meet deep burgundy eyes which where unnervingly close to her own. She froze, though Soul didn't seem to notice. Instead, he seemed rather preoccupied with the doorway to his room and she was pretty sure she could hear him counting backwards from five. Lo and behold, when he got to one, someone crashed into his room with the grace of a raging drunkard. That someone happened to have _blue hair._

 _No, no, no_ , Maka thought as she debated whether or not to still make a break for it. Soul seemed to pick up on this and promptly hauled her back into the house. She crossed her arms and made a face at the one she was pretty sure was called Black*Star (what kind of name was that anyway?!). His friend, Tsubaki, was standing nervously behind him and apologizing for the intrusion.

"SOUL, ARE YOU OKAY?!" Black*Star yelled before Tsubaki slapped a hand over his mouth and hissed at him to quiet down.

"I'm sorry Soul, Dr. Stein and Marie were in the forest this morning and they detected a witch and an immortal. He sent us to check on you just in case. We got worried when we couldn't find you or the scythe where it usually is. So we-" she trailed off as she seemed to notice Maka standing in the room for the first time. "Does she-" Tsubaki glanced at Soul, her eyes seeming to finish off her question in silence.

Soul sighed and shook his head. "She got involved last night though, she wants answers".

Tsubaki and Soul both looked at her with slight discomfort. Black*Star took that moment to break his mouth free from Tsubaki's hand.

"Don't look so glum plebes! She had to find out at some point anyway, why not now?!" he announced loudly, albeit slightly quieter than before.

Maka crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, looking at them expectantly. Soul sat back down on the bed and leveled his stare on her.

"Maka, how much do you know about souls?"


End file.
